1
as in peasant
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
as far as he was concerned, anyone from outside the city was a backwater churl
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in miser
a mean grasping person who is usually stingy with money
don't bother asking for donations at that house—the churl who lives there believes that charity begins and ends at home
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in bastard
a person whose behavior is offensive to others
a churl who gets thrown out of parties with remarkable regularity
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of churl
The churl’s view.
—
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 July 2021
But the cartoonish executive in Episode 1 will require a Grinch-like turnaround to become anything but a clownish churl.
—Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2022
Only a churl would lament the existence of these testaments to the out-of-nowhere potential of a great pop hit.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2021
Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 July 2021
But the cartoonish executive in Episode 1 will require a Grinch-like turnaround to become anything but a clownish churl.
—Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 Mar. 2022
Only a churl would lament the existence of these testaments to the out-of-nowhere potential of a great pop hit.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for churl
Noun
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The Gospel authors, far from being community leaders preserving oral sayings for largely illiterate followers, were highly literate members of a small, erudite upper crust, distant in experience, attitude, and geography from any Galilean peasant preachers.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
-
Set in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, where Mateus was raised, a peasant community of grape-pickers become agents in an open-air ritual of remembrance and rebellion.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Julia Soares, an assistant professor of cognitive science at Mississippi State University, said this tendency aligns with the decades-old social science concept of the cognitive miser.—
Celia Ford,
Vox,
10 Mar. 2025
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This ahead-of-its-time 1988 film stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a TV executive and self-seeking miser who receives a wake-up call from the ghosts of Christmas Past (David Johansen), Present (Carol Kane) and Future (Robert Hammond) to help straighten his mean spirit.—
Skyler Caruso,
People.com,
19 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.—
D. T. Max,
The New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2024
Noun
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But this Ron Howard was an alternate universe version of Ron Howard, who instead of being notoriously nice, is sort of a jerk.—
Esther Zuckerman,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2025
-
Someone actually just said to me that all the men in the book are jerks.—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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In real time, the audience, the queens watching, and perhaps Suzie herself all learn that Suzie has a knack for sexiness onstage, even though she’s dressed as a clown.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
12 Apr. 2025
-
Among the mass-shooting victims is a bloodied clown who was performing at the festival.—
James Poniewozik,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Responding officers found the dog, and advised the owner to take the dog in.—
cleveland,
cleveland,
13 Sep. 2023
-
According to LifeLine, the DeKalb shelter takes in 135 dogs a week on average.—
Jim Gaines,
ajc,
13 Sep. 2023
Noun
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Going to the Ron Burgundy–Ricky Bobby idiot well one time too many, Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a lazy, cynical longtime congressman running against a local bumpkin (Galifianakis).—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
4 Feb. 2025
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Carter, perhaps the most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office, was long written off as a country bumpkin, one who perhaps unsurprisingly left office as a one-term anomaly.—
Philip Elliott,
TIME,
9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Students are required to bring two full decks of cards including the jokers.—
Kris Slugg,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Jan. 2025
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This lucky gambler had an 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and a joker.—
Helena Wegner,
Sacramento Bee,
20 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Churl.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/churl. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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